Dinner in a Nest
It's all here - Onions, beans, tomato sauce, and cheese. All in a cozy delicious potato NEST!
This meal has all of the comfort food feel you would get when eating something like a lasagna, but MUCH more healthy for you. Meatless, and still delicious! This meal makes great leftovers too. Kids will love it, especially those picky meat-eaters. They will be thrilled to see there's no meat in this meal. The beans are the only protein needed!
So let's get to cooking!
Recipe Ingredients
Makes 6 Servings
Recipe found in Millie Snyder's Lean & Luscious Meatless Cookbook, P 210
2 Large potatoes (18 ounces total) unpeeled, courtly shredded
1 tbs canola oil
2 cups chopped onions
1 1-pound can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained This will yield 10 ounces of beans)
8 oz can salt-free (or regular) tomato sauce
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder
4 oz shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (1 cup)
Cooking Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Oil a 10-inch pie pan or spray with a nonstick cooking spray.
Arrange potatoes in the bottom and sides of the pan, forming a thick crust, or nest.
Press potatoes firmly in place. Bake for 20 minutes.
While potatoes are baking, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onions. Cook, stirring frequently until onions are nicely browned, about 15 minutes.
The photo below shows the onions and what they will look like every 5 minutes.
Remove onions from heat. Drain beans and stir in beans with the onions.
When potatoes are finished baking, remove from oven.
Spread beans evenly into potato nest.
Combine tomato sauce and spices and spoon evenly over the bean mixture.
Because of time constraints this day, I simply poured the spices into the tomato can and mixed it into the can. Worked like a charm!
Pour and spread evenly!
Top with cheese. I grated most of this. Be aware it is a super soft cheese and you need a cheese grater with large grates on it. The last bit of it I just tore into tiny bits.
Return to oven and bake 10 minutes, until cheese is melted.
Remove from oven, and let cool for 10 minutes. Serve warm with some nice sides! We had homegrown green beans from the garden with this meal. :)
PRO TIP: Invest in a Mandolin slicer! They make food prep 110% faster! The one we used in this recipe can be found on Amazon here. Below are some examples of using this mandolin slicer. It is by far our favorite out there!
